Nigel Slater's seared beef, and elderberry apple pancake recipes

There is a group of flavours inextricably linked with this time of year: blackberry and apple for one, mushrooms and garlic (more of which another week), grapes and walnuts and – less well known here but delicious nevertheless – beef and beetroot.

Blackberry and apple is probably the first flavour pairing that many of us think of in early autumn. But this year I found another that I think even better: that of apple and elderberry, the tiny purple berry now ripe and ready to pick. In some parts of the country home winemakers started snipping them off the trees a couple of weeks back, dumping them into buckets to make elderberry wine.

I have yet to get the wine-making bug and secretly suspect I never shall, but as the recipient of free berries that needed using, I decided to update the blackberry and apple idea instead. Even stirred in at the last minute so they do not bleed too much, they offer everything the traditional pairing does, but with a deeper berry flavour. The colour is brilliant garnet, the flavour refreshing and curiously spicy. The reason it has been eclipsed by blackberry and apple is probably because of the dreaded pigeons that like nothing more than tucking into any elder tree they can find.

This week alone I have seen a dozen or more elder trees weighted down with unpicked fruit. Two were in gardens, the others growing wild and there for the taking. The ripe fruits will hold on the tree for a good two or three weeks, but birds can strip a tree of its fruit in days. If they or a home brewer has got there before you, you would be wise to file the recipe below for next year and get a head start.

The berries are probably a bit too much on their own. I once ate an elderberry crumble, and good as it was, I rather wished I hadn't when I discovered the berries' acute laxative effect. Hence the tempering with apple.

This has also been the week I roasted the first of the root vegetables for a warm salad, in part to eke out a rather small piece of beef fillet (I got away with 300g for two of us, and neither of us felt I had been stingy.) Seared rather than roasted, the outside of the meat developed a lightly sticky crust – a match for the sweetness of the beets.

Beef and beetroot is a pairing that has been with me for several years, mostly as pickled beetroot to liven up last Sunday's cold beef. An American friend used to make a red flannel hash of finely chopped potatoes, corned beef and beetroot. It's wonderful as a Sunday brunch. But the pairing can be more imaginative than that. Try the cooked sliced beets set in jelly made from beetroot juice and served with cold beef slices, or make a mustardy beetroot remoulade to eat with a grilled rump or sirloin.

Seared beef and beetroot

I roasted the beets here, but boil for about 45 minutes in deep water if you prefer. Let the outside of the beef crisp slightly, to contrast with the sweetness of the beetroot. Serves 2 as a main-course salad.

For the beef300g tail-end filletolive oil

For the beets600g smallish beetroots (red or golden)4 or 5 sprigs of thyme40g walnut halves1 tbsp of snipped chives

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Trim the beetroots, but don't peel them. Roast them for 60 to 75 minutes with the thyme and a couple of tbsp of water in a tin covered tightly with foil, so that the beets will cook in their own steam.

Rub the beef with oil, and season. Place in a non-stick frying pan and fry over a moderate to high heat for 2 minutes until brown. Turn and brown the other sides. Set aside, covered in foil.

To make the dressing, whisk the vinegar, mustard, oils, a little salt and black pepper in a large bowl. When the beets are just cool enough to handle, peel and cut them into quarters or thick wedges, depending on their size. Put them in the bowl and toss in the dressing. Fold in the chives.

Toast the walnut halves in a non-stick frying pan for a minute or two until dark golden. Remove and salt lightly. Carve the beef thinly. Toss with the beets, walnuts and their dressing, and serve.

Elderberry and apple pancakes

The pancakes can be made in advance. Wrapped in clingfilm on a plate, they will keep for a couple of hours. The filling will keep for several days in the fridge. I made twice the recipe and ate it all week for breakfast. Serves 6.

Make the pancakes Melt the butter in a small pan, remove from the heat and leave it to cool. Sift the flour, along with a pinch of salt, in a large bowl. Mix in the sugar, make a well in the centre and add the egg, egg yolk and cooled butter. Stir, drawing in the flour and gradually adding the milk to give a smooth batter. Leave to rest for half an hour.

Brush a 20-22cm non-stick frying pan or crêpe pan with melted butter, or wipe it over with buttered kitchen roll. When the butter starts to sizzle, stir the batter then pour in a wafer-thin layer, tipping the pan round so it just covers the base very thinly (a small ladle full should be enough for each pancake). Cook for a minute or so until the underside is golden. Loosen the pancake all the way round with a palette knife, then turn to cook the other side.

For the filling Peel the apples, core and chop into small pieces. Simmer in a heavy-based pan with the sugar over a low to moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the apples have collapsed. Stir in the elderberries and leave to cook, with the occasional stir, for a minute or two, until the mixture is soft and fluffy. Try not to stir too much, otherwise you will crush the elderberries.

For the topping Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Make the bread into coarse crumbs in a food processor or with a grater. Melt the butter in a shallow pan, then add the crumbs. When they are pale gold, add the sugar and allow it to caramelise slightly. As the crumbs become slightly glossy and there is a faint smell of toffee tip them into a bowl.

Place a pancake on the work surface, spread generously with the filling then roll up or fold into a triangle. Place in a shallow baking dish. Scatter the toasted crumb mixture on top and warm for 15 minutes in the oven.